Mallows Bay is a small bay on the

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

side of the

Potomac River The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augus ...

Charles County, Maryland Charles County is a county in Southern Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 166,617. The county seat is La Plata. The county was named for Charles Calvert (1637–1715), third Baron Baltimore. Charles County is part of the Wash ...

, United States. The bay is the location of what is regarded as the "largest

shipwreck A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be intentional or unintentional. Angela Croome reported in January 1999 that there were approximately ...

fleet in the

Western Hemisphere The Western Hemisphere is the half of the planet Earth that lies west of the prime meridian (which crosses Greenwich, London, United Kingdom) and east of the antimeridian. The other half is called the Eastern Hemisphere. Politically, the term We ...

" and is described as a "ship graveyard." Mallows Bay was declared a

National Marine Sanctuary A U.S. National Marine Sanctuary is a zone within United States waters where the marine environment enjoys special protection. The program began in 1972 in response to public concern about the plight of marine ecosystems. A U.S. National Marine ...

in July 2019.

Ghost fleet

The "Ghost Fleet" of Mallows Bay is a reference to the hundreds of ships whose remains still rest in its relatively shallow waters. It is the largest collection of wrecks in the Western hemisphere, 230

United States Shipping Board Merchant Fleet Corporation The Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) was established by the United States Shipping Board, sometimes referred to as the War Shipping Board, on 16 April 1917 pursuant to the Shipping Act (39 Stat. 729) to acquire, maintain, and operate merchant shi ...

ships sunk in the river. More than 100 of the vessels are wooden steamships, part of a fleet built to cross the Atlantic during World War I. Because they were built of wood due to a lack of available steel, most of these ships were obsolete upon completion after the end of the war. The U.S. Navy did not want the ships, which were stored in the

James River The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 to Chesapea ...

– at the cost of $50,000 a month – so they were sold to the Western Marine & Salvage Company. The company moved the ships to the Potomac River at

Widewater, Virginia Widewater is an unincorporated community in Stafford County, in the U.S. state of Virginia. Located on the banks of the Potomac River, it was the site of the flight experiments by Samuel Langley during the late 19th and early 20th century.Michael ...

and in 1925, they were towed to Mallows Bay. Western Marine went bankrupt and the ships were burned and remained where they lay. During World War II,

Bethlehem Steel The Bethlehem Steel Corporation was an American steelmaking company headquartered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. For most of the 20th century, it was one of the world's largest steel producing and shipbuilding companies. At the height of its succe ...

built a salvage basin to recover metal from the abandoned ships. Access to the ships is through Mallows Bay Park, operated by the county, located at 1440 Wilson Landing Road in

Nanjemoy, Maryland Nanjemoy is a settlement along Maryland Route 6 in southwestern Charles County, Maryland, United States, and the surrounding large rural area more or less bounded by Nanjemoy Creek to the east and north, and the Potomac River to the south and west ...

. A trail loops around the park and the salvage basin. In 2010, a boat ramp and pier for recreational use was constructed to provide access to the Potomac River. It is popular to

canoe A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle. In British English, the term ...

kayak A kayak is a small, narrow watercraft which is typically propelled by means of a double-bladed paddle. The word kayak originates from the Greenlandic word ''qajaq'' (). The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each se ...

among the ship ruins; the ships form a

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes— deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock out ...

that hosts an array of wildlife. The bay was listed as an archaeological and historic district on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2015, and was declared a

in July 2019. The most distinct ship seen at Mallows Bay is the S.S. ''Accomac''.

Gallery

File:Maryland - Little Falls through Mallows Bay crop.jpg, Aerial photograph 1936. Mallows Bay on Potomac River below Quantico and between Sandy Point and Liverpool Point. ( Full image) File:Mallows Bay Park Feb 20, 2017, 11-37 AM edit (32820786620).jpg, Valuable maritime heritage File:Mallows Bay Park Feb 20, 2017, 10-46 AM edit (33138058115).jpg, Almost submerged shipwrecks, February 2017

References

Notes Further reading *Shomette, Donald (1996) ''Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay and Other Tales of the Lost Chesapeake''. Centreville, Maryland: Tidewater Publishers. . .

External links

Mallows Bay Park, 1440 Wilson Landing Road, Nanjemoy, MD 20662
*, at Maryland Historical Trust
Mallows Bay - Potomac River: A Proposed National Marine Sanctuary. NOAA Office of National Marine SanctuariesNOAA. National System of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)

Ghost Fleet Fast Facts. Oct 31, 2017. National Marine Sanctuary FoundationFriends of Mallows Potomac National Marine Sanctuary in Nanjemoy, MarylandFriends of Mallows Potomac National Marine Sanctuary Facebook pageMallows Bay - Potomac River: A Proposed National Marine Sanctuary. Chesapeake ConservancyThe Nature Conservancy - Passport to Nature: Ghost Fleet of Mallows BayThe National Trust for Historic Preservation. National Treasures. Ghost Fleet of the Potomac. Location: Charles County, Maryland'The Ghosts of These Historic Ships Float On'. Named a National Treasure. The National Trust for Historic Preservation. ''Preservation Magazine'', Winter 2018NOAA Nautical Chart 12288 - Potomac River
*
Aerial imagery of Mallows Bay
from ''

The National Map ''The National Map'' is a collaborative effort of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and other federal, state, and local agencies to improve and deliver topographic information for the United States. The purpose of the effort is to prov ...

''
Mallows Bay Ghost Fleet along the Potomac River - from fossilguy'Secrets of the Chesapeake'. Maryland Public TV (MPT) Specials. PBS. 56:50PBS 'Secrets of the Chesapeake': Mallows Bay WWI shipwrecks. Broadcast April 18, 2012. Includes Photos Mallows Bay 1 & 2.
* {{authority control Bays of Maryland Bodies of water of Charles County, Maryland Potomac River Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Maryland Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Maryland Shipwrecks in the Chesapeake Bay National Register of Historic Places in Charles County, Maryland Ship graveyards United States in World War I United States in World War II Modern ruins Protected areas established in 2019 2019 establishments in Maryland National Marine Sanctuaries of the United States

Ghost fleet

Gallery

See also

References

External links